Trump wants Truth Social deal lawsuit put on hold over immunity

Jef Feeley, Bloomberg News on Dec 9, 2024

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President-elect Donald Trump wants a lawsuit against him by the co-founders of his social-media platform put on hold so that a Delaware judge can decide whether presidential immunity covers the case.

Lawyers for Trump and two board members of Trump Media & Technology Group Corp., FBI chief nominee Kash Patel and ex-Republican Congressman Devin Nunes, argued that “temporary presidential immunity” applies to all of them. The ex-president is the largest shareholder of the company, which oversees the Truth Social platform.

The trio’s attorneys contend they can show the men are “temporarily immune from state civil litigation,” according to the Dec. 6 filing in Delaware Chancery Court.

Trump has sought to have criminal cases against him thrown out in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in July that former presidents are immune from prosecution for some official actions taken while in office. The two federal cases against him have since been dropped, while state prosecutions in New York and Georgia are still pending. Trump is scheduled to be inaugurated in January.

Representatives of Trump, Patel and Nunes didn’t immediately respond to email requests for comment Monday.

Andy Litinsky and Wes Moss, ex-contestants on Trump’s onetime reality TV show "The Apprentice" who oversaw the setup of Truth Social, sued in February arguing the ex-president sought to unfairly dilute their 8.6% stake in Trump Media and cut them out of their fair share of the company’s initial public offering. Trump countersued the men in state court in Florida, arguing they violated an agreement about Trump Media’s setup and didn’t deserve the stake they sought.

The pair sold about 11 million in Truth Social shares in September — worth around $150 million at the time — after a so-called lock-up on the stock expired, according to the New York Times. Trump vowed not to sell any of his 60% stake in the platform, which lost billions in value after it went public, but shot up after his election.

The Delaware case is United Atlantic Ventures v. Trump Media, 2024-0184, Delaware Chancery Court (Wilmington).

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